A Flurry of White

The winter storm warning we were under for the weekend didn't amount to any snow falling in the valley, although we welcomed a little rain. Apparently Desert Girl was ready for a little white floating through the air. When I heard heard her wake up from her nap, I walked in and found her in the midst of emptying the Kleenex box. She had already made a lot of progress. So I did what any extremely sane mom would do--I ran out of the room to get my husband and camera.

Being discovered didn't slow her down. Not one bit.

But she did have the decency to check if she was in trouble.

Then, taking a lesson from her big brother, she smiled big to show off how cute she was. I was already won over.

Back to work! There are a lot of Kleenex tissues in one box, and Emma wasn't going to stop until she had finished the job of emptying the entire box.

More.
And more.
And still some more.
A flurry of white.
And she's still not done.
Now she's decided that one at a time isn't fast enough; she's trying to get handfuls of them.
What kid hasn't done this? Or at least dreamed of it? It even looked fun to me.
Finally done.

Is that all?

New Parking Lot

We saw some big machinery near the post office and went to investigate what was happening.

They're busy tearing out the old parking lot and putting a new one in. This is one of those Stimulus projects. So was last year's, when they tore out part of the parking lot and replaced it to improve handicapped access. And if you're wondering if the parking area that got put in last year was torn out this year---the answer is Yes.

I'd much rather have my tax dollars going towards putting in sidewalks in town so we don't have to walk down the highway with our kids or redoing the tennis/basketball court by the school. But I don't get to decide these things.

The parking lot didn't look so big when it was all paved, but once it was torn up, it looked quite a bit larger.

They started pouring the new concrete curbs. The weather isn't exactly being the most cooperative, but it is winter after all! We'll see how this project turns out. And then maybe we'll figure out how to rig a tennis net in the middle of it.

Yep, That Picture Says It All

Well, this photo pretty much sums up our week! Sick family, plenty of mud, and getting really aggravated about not having our Internet working. It's made us all tired! Pushing Desert Boy home while holding Emma/balancing her on top was an interesting experience. Hopefully we'll recoup this weekend. Hope you have a good weekend, too.

New Babies

The new babies on the ranch are getting acquainted with their new home. The calves are so cute! And they look so tiny right now.

When people say how fast kids grow, they're right, they do grow in seemingly a flash. But if you consider how fast calves grow--whoa, nelly, that's a whole other story. Although gestation for both human and cow babies is nine months, once they're born, they have very different growing rates.

For example:

Little Emma has added ten inches and over ten pounds in a year.

The little calves that were born about the same time as her last year have added several feet and over 800 pounds in a year. Many are leaving the ranch already. Just saying that makes me want to run and get a tissue. I guess those are my maternal hormones speaking!

Well, we'll enjoy these little calves while they're still little.

The mama cows are keeping a close eye on all the little ones.

And that's it for today, time to get back to my little ones! Thanks for visiting.

The Hay Barn - Down, Down, on the Ground

Okay, the title of this post is a play on my last post's title (Helium - Up, Up, and Away). Sorry, I just couldn't resist the urge to be utterly cute and witty. Unfortunately, the subject of this post isn't so cute. In fact, today I have a sad tale to tell. It actually relates to my blog title, Desert Survivor.

In order to help protect hay from the drying sun, soaking thunderstorms, and blowing snow, the ranch constructed some hay barns a couple years ago. The hay barns had a relatively simple structure: thick posts stuck into the ground, curved wooden trusses that stretched from beam to beam, and a metal sheet roof to cover everything. Sure, the elements could still get in the sides of the barn, but the tightly packed hay was much better protected. Only the outside perimeter would get bleached by the sun, while the interior hay would stay nice and green, like it's supposed to.

Except that we had a huge snow storm right before Christmas. Then the temperatures dropped. And the wind blew. And the trusses broke under the weight of all that snow, collapsing the roof onto the hay. My husband and several other ranch employees spent days shoveling the snow off the roof so that it wouldn't melt onto all the hay below. Then the dang desert wind got under that sheet metal and blew the roof off.

Fortunately most of the hay has been sold or moved, so it's not as bad as it could be.

It's a sorry sight, though, to see the roofless hay barn. The good news: It's slated to be rebuilt.

We're not the only ones who've had problems with all the snow and wind this winter. The neighboring dairy also had a barn collapse, unfortunately with some cows underneath.

Although we don't get much moisture in the desert, when it does come, it often brings problems with it. Nevertheless, we still want it! That little bit of precipitation is what makes it possible to survive out in the desert.